


Powdered Sugar

by cosmicoyote



Series: Marichat May 2020 One-Shots [11]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Gen, Marichat May 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-28
Updated: 2020-05-28
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:01:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24376924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cosmicoyote/pseuds/cosmicoyote
Summary: Prompt 11: Chat BlancChat Noir has been spending time in the Dupain-Cheng bakery to help out and keep his mind off of his troubles at home. One night he helps bring in baking supplies only to fall and become covered in powdered sugar. He was not expecting the impact that being covered in white would have on Marinette.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Series: Marichat May 2020 One-Shots [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1728427
Comments: 11
Kudos: 160





	Powdered Sugar

**Author's Note:**

> This is the smallest amount of angst I could put into the "Chat Blanc" concept. I also have my own short story involving a post-Chat Blanc. It's called "Now the Real Nightmares Can Begin" where Chat has nightmares following Sandboy, and Ladybug has her own bad dreams with Chat Blanc. Much more angst than this fluff fiesta if that's what you prefer. :3

The atmosphere in the Dupain-Cheng bakery had been much more boisterous since they added on the new help. Chat Noir, hero to Paris, had started spending his early evenings around closing time for the bakery helping out in any way he could. So far, he had helped Tom carry boxes and trash out to the back alley, assisted Sabine with double checking order schedules, and even worked with Marinette to mop and scrub the shop.

He did his best to both be helpful but also stay out of the way. Chat was honored that Dupain-Chengs had allowed him to stay a couple of times in the evenings to help them out. He didn't want to intrude. However, they seemed grateful for the extra help and were overwhelmingly kind to him; heck, they treated him like he was one of their own.

The truth was Chat was being selfish and a coward.

He was hiding from having to face his mile-long list of responsibilities he had to deal with as Adrien Agreste: teen model and son of the owner of a world renowned fashion company. 

After spending hours in photo shoots and additional ones in his classes both inside and outside the classrooms he shared with his friends, he needed a mental break. All of that was without including his duties as Chat Noir.

At the bakery, he could talk about Chinese heritage he was studying with Sabine; he could pun and joke around with Tom; and have comfortable conversations with Marinette. On top of all of that, he got to eat a dinner with other people! Sabine Cheng made the best food he had ever tasted in his life! Some nights they had Italian while other nights that had traditional Chinese dishes. Rarely did they eat out, but when they did, Chat Noir was more than happy to bounce to the restaurant and pick up the order.

Chat looked forward to the visits every week, and they helped him get through his rough days. The get togethers were like a light at the end of the tunnel for him since his home life felt colder by the day. His father continued to ignore him except when he was scolding him, and Nathalie spoke to him only with schedule updates.

"Chat, honey? Did you hear me?"

Chat Noir jumped and looked up into the concerned face of Sabine Cheng. She was so sweet to him and listened to his problems. "Sorry, Mme Cheng. I was just thinking..." He shuffled his feet and tossed the used rag into a hamper. He had been wiping down the counters and tables for her.

"That's okay," she told him, her smile warm and motherly. "I have Marinette carrying in some late deliveries. If you could help her with that...?"

"Of course!" Chat's ears perked up and his tail swished. He headed out back to the side of the building where a late night delivery had been made. He could see around a dozen boxes, but none of them looked too bulky or heavy. Marinette was balancing two in her arms and carefully making her way toward the door.

Chat watched her with affection. She was a petite girl, but she was strong. She smiled in a strained way at him as she passed and made her way inside fairly easily before he could offer his help. He turned to the boxes and was picking up his own when Marinette reappeared at his shoulder.

"What's in these boxes, Princess?" Chat asked as she made sure he had a good grip on the boxes on his arms.

Marinette smiled. "Flour, sugar, powdered sugar, and those boxes marked 'fragile' have eggs in them."

Chat smirked at her. "Want me to get the eggs, Mlle Clumsy?"

Her bluebell eyes ignited into annoyed flames. "Chat Noir, I am more than capable of carrying boxes of eggs without tripping!"

He chuckled as she poked the bell at his throat and made it chime. She was something that was for sure. Spending all of this time with her as Chat Noir allowed him to see her in a new light now that she wasn't seemingly nervous around him like she was with Adrien. She was smart, spunky, resourceful, but also clumsy. He found her adorable.

To placate her, he lifted his gloved hands to shoulder height in a gesture of surrender. "Whatever you say, Princess."

"I'll Princess _you_ ," she grumbled, picking up another box.

Chat chuckled and began walking back toward the bakery, carrying the boxes securely. He really shouldn't have teased her so much, for karma had plans for him almost right away. As he was turning to go into the door, his boot caught the corner of a garbage bag resting against the dumpster to be tossed in when the night was over. The cat hero tripped and let out a yowl that someone passing the alley might mistake for a cat getting its tail trodden on.

He fell forward into the opposite side's group of garbage bags with his body landing on the boxes. In his panic, he had thrown his hands forward to catch his fall, and his knife sharp claws shredded the cardboard like tissue paper. The next thing he saw was an explosion of white that had him squeezing his eyes shut tight.

"Chat! Chat, are you okay?" Marinette's panicked voice roused him to sit up and shake off the garbage bags that had fallen on top of him. He sneezed and blinked his eyes open before slowly turning around.

He chuckled nervously. "Sorry, Marinette. I guess this cat is eating his own words-..." he broke off when he caught sight of her expression. He had expected worry and even teasing remarks from her, but what he got instead was a look of absolute terror. Her face was as white as the powdered sugar he had spilled everywhere thanks to his clumsy fall and wild claws. She had dropped her own box which, thankfully, did not bust open or become damaged. Her clenched fists were trembling.

"P-Princess?" Chat asked nervously. He reached out a hand to touch her shoulder and comfort her because he had no idea why she looked so haunted, but she seemed to come out of whatever horror she was locked in and flinched away.

"I... I don't feel so good." And she bolted back inside, scampering up the stairs to the apartment above the bakery.

Completely thrown off, Chat Noir stared down at his hands and blinked when he saw they were now coated completely in white. Even his poor ring shined feebly through the layer of sugar. He looked down and saw from his lower ribs up to his head, judging from the weird heavy feeling in his hair and face, he was covered in the sugar.

He no longer looked like Chat Noir but... Chat Blanc. He amused himself for a moment with the idea, but then he remembered that Marinette had looked as if she was reliving a nightmare when she saw him like this. What was that all about?

As he knelt to pick up the boxes and finish his task with the intention of checking on Marinette when she had time to calm down, Sabine emerged from the bakery with a frown. "What happened to Marinette? I saw her take off upstairs."

Chat shrugged helplessly. "I dunno. I'm so sorry. I fell and tore open the box with my claws."

Sabine took in his appearance and put a hand over her mouth to hide her smile. "Oh, dear. You look like those cartoon characters after they fall into a sacks of flour."

The cat hero huffed and sneezed, causing a cloud of sugar to be shaken from his hair. "Yeah, this is claw-ful," he mumbled in a weak attempt for a pun, but his heart ached when he thought of how scared Marinette had looked. Even though he wasn't sure what happened and was pretty sure he didn't do anything on purpose, a part of him felt guilty. Had she had a less extreme reaction, she would've probably jumped at her and yelled "BOO!" to joke around with her. Now he's glad that thought hadn't occurred to him.

"Why don't you clean up and check on her," Sabine encouraged him gently. "Tom and I can finish with the boxes. Don't worry about it, okay?"

Chat twitched his cat ears, making a mental note to pay for an order of powdered sugar at least because the whole incident was his fault. Or he could leave some money in the tip jar since his father would monitor such unusual spending.

"Okay. Sorry again, Mme Cheng." To his surprise, she reached up to cup his sugar-covered cheek and smiled softly. He leaned into her touch without thinking and sighed, relaxing from the warm contact. He wasn't touched often in a comforting manner, and Sabine often hugged him and ruffled his hair. Marinette hugged him a couple of times, and Tom clapped him on the back with his own, rougher hair ruffles, too.

He felt more at home at Marinette's house than he did at his own.

Before he knows what's happening, Sabine is gently wiping at his face with a rag and cooing at him. He had been so caught up in his jumble of thoughts, he hadn't noticed he started to tear up. A few tears had spilled out, and Marinette's mother was now wiping his tears off which were cleaning his cheeks.

He swallowed thickly and stepped back to rub at his cheeks. "S-Sorry." He looked up, and when the kind woman reached for him, he flinched automatically and expected to reprimanded for shaming himself with weakness.

Marinette's mother gave him a long look then softened and smiled. "Go on upstairs, Chat. I think Marinette could use the comfort as much as you do."

Nodding and avoiding her kind eyes, Chat mumbles an "Okay, yeah," before slinking upstairs. Not finding Marinette in the living room, he could only assume she was in her bedroom. He slunk into the bathroom and nearly leapt back when he turned on the light and spotted his reflection in the mirror. He was white from head to the bottom of his torso. His cheeks were streaked with tear tracks, and his vivid green eyes shone against the white, and he did look a little messed up.

He turned on the shower and washed off his suit and hair, knowing Plagg would appreciate the cleaning instead of detransforming while covered in powdered sugar. Yeah he didn't have the Camembert to apologize for that.

After he was cleaned up and definitely looking like himself, Chat hurried up the short staircase to knock softly on the trapdoor leading to Marinette's room, his heart throbbing with nerves. He swallowed when he didn't hear anything, so he put his cat ear against the door. He closed his eyes and focused, tapping into his feline nature, and he heard the sounds of faint whimpering and choked sobs.

Chat Noir instantly knew he had to be up there. He pushed the door open quickly but carefully so he didn't break it then stalked into the dimly lit bedroom. Marinette was curled up in her bed, hugging her cat pillow and crying quietly into it with her back to him.

Chat swallowed and approached slowly, his boots scarcely making a sound on her wooden floor thanks to cat movements. He walked around to the little ladder that connected to her bed then stepped up to look over at her.

"Marinette?" he asked softly, keeping his voice low.

She trembled and hugged her pillow tighter, her feet moving away from him as she tucked her knees to her chest. Seeing her so distraught broke his heart, and he felt his cat ears droop on either side of his head. "Princess?" he tried again to get her to look at him.

Marinette didn't look at him, but she shifted over to the left, leaving the right side of the bed cleared. Chat took the invitation and climbed up slowly, moving on all fours to crawl up her bed. He nervously moved aside her pillows and dropped down on his side to face her.

Her blue eyes were puffy and red-rimmed, and he could make out tear tracks that matched his own from before when Sabine was talking to him. Tenderly, Chat reached up and tucked some of her dark hair off of her face. "What's making my princess so upset?" he asked quietly.

Marinette gulped and shyly reached out to touch the side of his face. Her touch, like Sabine's, brought him comfort and allowed him to relax. He put a clawed hand over hers and held it there to lean into her soft touch.

"I..." Marinette swallowed and wet her lips before scooting closer. "I had a... a dream. Okay, I've had it multiple times, but in the dreams, you were... akumatized."

Chat froze and stared at her, not expecting that answer at all. _Him?_ Sure, his father made his life hard, but he tried so hard to stay upbeat - both because his mother encouraged it before she died and to avoid being akumatized in the first place.

"In the dreams, you called yourself Chat Blanc, and you were..." she trailed off and slowly reached up to gently play with one of his sensitive cat ears. "You weren't my kitty."

Color flooded his cheeks at her words. He gulped and lazily drooped his eyes, a low purr forming in the back of his throat as she stroked his hair. "I'll always be your kitty, Princess." He took her other hand, the one not deliciously scratching at his scalp, and kissed her fingers.

"In the dreams, you were angry and aggressive. You destroyed everything with some super juiced-up cataclysm." The words seemed to tumble out of her now that she started telling him. "You were all white... except your eyes which were this emotionless blue..." She shuddered.

Chat removed his hand from hers and pulled her closer. Marinette sighed and moved to press herself against his chest. She put her cheek just under his bell so that his chin rested on top of her head. He held her as she burrowed into him and cried at the trauma of her nightmares.

Chat Noir rubbed her back as she clutched him like a lifeline. His belt tail wrapped around her waist to secure her to him. "That won't happen, Princess," he murmured. "I have people like you to keep me grounded and happy."

Marinette snuggled into him, her cries quieting a little.

To help her settle, Chat rubbed his cheek against her hair and summoned a purr. He felt her slip a hand back up into his hair and encourage the sound as it raised in volume. He was embarrassed by the reflex, but if it helped her settle down, he would swallow his pride for her sake.

"You're a good person, Chat," she whispered. "If you ever feel... upset and you can't calm down on your own, tell me, and I'll be there."

He rubbed her back. "I will."

"Good." Her muscles relaxed like an enormous weight had been lifted from her shoulders. "Because you're amazing."

His purr became much louder from her praise and he snuggled into her. They stayed like that for a long while, just embracing each other and listening to the cat's purr reverberating between them.

Even when Sabine came up to check on her daughter before bed, neither teen stirred. They had fallen asleep in each other's arms - looking peaceful and relaxed. She had learned by just watching Chat Noir react to her touch that he did not have a good home life - whoever he was under that mask. Watching him flinch had broken her heart and made her want to give whoever had caused him to react in such a way a piece of her mind.

"So, do you think we can start planning their wedding cake design?" Tom whispered from just behind her.

Sabine fought down a giggle and elbowed her husband. They then slipped out with every intention of letting the cat hero know that he was welcome whenever he wished, but maybe not pass out in their home. They could have that talk in the morning.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm probably going to pick a handful more of prompts then end this series. I'm losing motivation as much as I love Marichat. :/
> 
> Feedback is always appreciated. Those who have stayed with this series - you guys are amazing! :D ♥


End file.
